Vaxve wrench



June 2, 1931. J HJQRTH 1,807,625

VALVE WRENCH Filed May 28 1930 Patented June 2, 1931 UNITED STATESPATENT GFFICE VALVE WRENCH Application filed May 28, 1930.

The subject matter of the present invention is a wrench adapted to beused for opening and closingvalves in pipes buried under the ground; forinstance, and particularly,

those in house connections from street water mains. It is well knownthat every such house connection contains a valve by means of which thewater supply to the house from the main may be turned on or off.Although such pipes are buried, access to the valve is given by way of atubular housing which embraces the valve and rises to the surface of theground, preventing the valve from being covered and made inaccessible byfilling of the trench in which the pipe was laid. Howa sand, gravel,etc. with it and frequently rises to such a height that it deposits alayer or body of dirt directly over the valve, of such thickness anddensity as to prevent access to the wings or handle of the valve cock by0 the ordinary socket wrenches provided for use in this class of valves.The common wrench now used for this purpose consists simply of a forkmade of two narrow blades parallel to one another on the end of a longrod, the other end of which is provided with a cross bar. It isdifiicult at best to find the valve cock handle wings with such awrench,and entirely impossible when the housing is filled at the bottom endwith dirt or gravel. So far as I am aware no municipal water departmentsare equipped with any better tool for operating such valves than thewrenches above described. Hence, when a leak de- 7 velops which resultsin thus blocking the housing, it is impossible to turn off the water bymeans of the wrench and necessary actually to dig a hole in the groundin order to gain access to the valve. Such digging operations are timeconsuming and costly and may have serious consequences due to the de-Serial No. 456,482.

lay occurring before the flow from the leak can be stopped. 7

It is my object to avoid the difficulties above mentioned by furnishinga wrench which can find its own way through sand and dirt of. any depthin the valve housing and will burrow through the dirt and then centeritself on the valve handle. The invention consists in such a wrenchincluding the combination of abutments adapted to embrace and applytorque to the valve cock handle, and associated means for cuttingthrough and displacing. sand, gravel and similar material which may bedeposited over the valve. The characteristics of this invention and theparticulars in which it consists are described in the followingspecification in connection with one specific embodiment thereof.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional elevation showing part of a waterconnection from a street main to a house, the valve in such connection,the housing surrounding the valve, and a wrench of my invention inposition to close the valve; I

Fig. 2 is a plan of the wrench head and a section through the same online 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the wrench head on line 33 of Fig.2;

Fig. 4 is a cross section on line H of Fig. 3; e r

Fig. 5 is a bottom end elevation of the wrench as seen from below theline 55 of Fig. 1.

Like reference characters designate the same parts wherever they occurin all the figures.

a represents a pipe typifying any connection from a street water main toan adjoining house, or indeed any pipe which is buried under ground, andb is a shut oif valve in such pipe. 0 represents conventionally theordinary housing used in connection with such valves to maintain a clearpassage from the .1

surface ofthe ground for application of a wrench to the valve. Suchhousings are ordinarily cylindrical tubes having a flange c at thebottom end to rest on a support in the bottom of the trench in which thepipe a is laid and having a displaceable cover at the upper end. It issubstantially larger than the valve and large enough in diameter toprovide room for two slots (Z in opposite sides at the lower end bywhich it is adapted to straddle the pipe at either side of the valve.

The wrench of this invention is embodied in what I have referred toabove as the head, which is designated as a whole by the letter If andconsists of a number of parts. It comprises a tubular cylindrical shell6 and a shank f centrally located therein, the diameter of which issubstantially smaller than the internal diameter of the shell, and thelower end of which is connected to the shell at opposite sides by wingsor webs g, h. Preferably the shank and wings are beveled to a more orless sharp edge at the lower side or end to facilitate penetrationthrough ground material.

Between one side of the wing g and the adjacent part of the shell, andextending downward beyond the shank and wing is a lug j, andsymmetrically arranged with re spect thereto and to the wing it is asimilar lug 70. These lugs have faces j, f and 7a, respectively, ofwhich the faces 3', 7c are parallel to and on opposite sides of adiameter of the shell, and the faces j a are parallel to and on oppositesides of a different diameter of the shell, preferably one at rightangles to the first mentioned di ameter. This arrangement of the lugsenables them to engage the cross bar or handle wings of the usual valvecock on respectively opposite sides of opposite ends thereof whereby toturn the cock into either open or closed position when the valve isturned one way or the other.

An inclined rib or vane Z extends from the upper side of the lug y' tothe upper end of the shell. Its face at the lower end is preferablyflush with the face j of this lug. A similar rib or vane m leads fromthe lug 7c in a similar relation to the face 73 of the latter. Theseribs are preferably helical and extend with such a pitch, or helixangle, that they assist in propelling through the annular space betweenthe shank and the shell the material entering the shell when the wrenchis forced into sand or the like. These ribs maintain the same angularrelation to the circumference of the shell in all transverse planesthroughout their length. That is, their transverse elements are notradial to the shell but are tangential to an inner circle concentricwith the shell, at least in the construction shown.

The lower edge of the shell is formed with wide serrations or teeth orfor the purpose of more readily penetrating into packed sand and dirt,loosening it, and facilitating penetration of the tool through suchmaterial.

The upper end of the shank is slotted or forked to provide two jaws 0 inthe space between which the end of the operating rod 1) may be placedand secured by pins, bolts, etc. The operating rod may be otherwise likethe shank or operator of the ordinary wrench, equipped with a cross bar9" on its upper end. Or, alternatively, the wrench head shank may beformed with a single tongue to be embraced between the jaws of a forkedend on the operating rod.

The tool head H is preferably made in one piece as a casting of steel orother suitably hard, tough and durable material; although it may befabricated otherwise without departure from the invention. Its manner ofuse will be readily understood from the foregoing description; and itwill be appreciated that it is adapted to penetrate through closelypacked dirt in its descent through the valve housing to a valve insituations such as contemplated here. Great depth of dirt covering thevalve is not a serious obstacle, for the driving of the tool into thedirt does not compact it, but rather loosens and stirs it up so that itis able to pass through the wide spaces between the shell and the shank,being assisted thereto by the inclines Z andm.

Arrived at the valve, the wrench centers itself on the cross bar of thecock and the lugs j and 7c are thus placed so that they embrace suchcross bar, being then disposed so that they will turn the cock when thewrench is thereafter rotated.

Of course this wrench is effective when there is no accumulation of dirtin the housing 0 as well as the common wrench; but when there is such anaccumulation it performs a service which the common wrench cannot do andobviates the slow, laborious and expensive digging heretofore necessaryin so many cases where a leak has occurred near the location of thevalve.

In the foregoing description I have used the term handle as a convenientterm to describe that part of the valve cock which is provided forturningit, whether by hand or by the agency of a wrench. It is to beunderstood that such term is merely descriptive and is used without anyintent to indicate a limitation of structure or utility of theinvention.

The lower end of the shank serves as a stop to engage the upper end ofthe valve plug or its handle and limit descent of the tool at a pointsuch that the teeth on the end of the shell cannot strike and cut or marthe valve body. This stop is above the lugs, whereby it allows them topass by and embrace the valve handle, but it prevents the wrench frommoving down too far.

hat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A wrench comprising a shank, separated lugs connected to the end ofsaid shank and projecting beyond said end adapted to embrace thehandleof a valve, and a shell surrounding said shank and connected theretowith an intermediate space for passage of granular material when thewrench is forced endwise into such material.

2. A wrench comprising a shank, a coaxial shell surrounding said shankand an intermediate annular space, rigid connections between said shankand shell crossing said intermediate space and having spaces betweenthem, and lugs projecting inward from the opposite sides of the shelladapted to embrace and apply torque to the handle of a valve.

3. A valve wrench comprising a shank, a shell surrounding said shank andan intermediate space, and extending at one end beyond the adjacent endof the shank, means crossing said intermediate space and connecting theshank and shell together, lugs projecting inward from opposite sides ofthe shell adapted to embrace and apply torque to the handle of a valve,and tooth serrations on the protruding end of the shell.

4:. A valve wrench comprising a shank, a shell surrounding said shankand connected thereto with an intervening annular space, extending atits lower end beyond the lower end of the shank, means on the lower endof the shell for penetrating and loosening granular material when theshell is thrust endwise into such material and rotated, inclines on theinside of the shell for propelling such material through saidintermediate space when the wrench is so rotated, and lugs on the insideof the shell adjacent to its lower end for embracing and applying torqueto the handle of a valve.

5. A wrench comprising a tubular shell having teeth at its lower end forboring through sand, etc., and having interior lugs for embracing avalve handle and applying turning force thereto, and a stop between andabove said lugs for limiting the movement of the shell toward the valvebody after the lugs have so embraced the handle.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature.

HENRIOK J HJORTH.

